Thursday, December 31, 2009

Tuesday Tempo

I did a 5.7 mile tempo run Tuesday morning, with 3.5 miles at increasing effort. The splits were 6:52-6:53-6:08-3:00. Faster than last time, but I was a bit disappointed by the slowdown in mile 2. May have just been distraction, though. I felt a twinge in my left ankle during my recovery that has haunted me the last couple of days; it migrates between my Achilles tendon and my lower calf; I've been icing twice a day and not running. I'd been hoping to hit 160 miles for the month with a run today, but instead I'm finishing December with 154 miles, my second-highest total of the year (behind 157 in August). It's worth noting that I finished August in pain as well, but this feels more minor. I think I'll be ready to go by this weekend.

Monday, December 28, 2009

A lot of running since the last post:
Wednesday, 4.5 mile bagel run with Silas in 39 minutes
Thursday, 15.7 miles in 2:08. Almost identical to his run, but a bit faster. Still muddy, though.
Friday, 6 mile Christmas run to Solano Ave in 45 minutes.
Sunday, 9.8 mile Marin loop in 1:13. (47 miles for the week, my highest of the year)
Monday, 10.6 miles with Silas, untimed. I took the long way to the pet food store to pick up some dog chow. We meandered around Rockridge for about 45 minutes while Silas napped, then carefully examined about every shelf in the store before heading home.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

If it's Tuesday, it must be...

I missed my tempo run this morning, but had a narrow window of time later in the morning when I had to run an errand, so I ran it. Fartlek-style. The 5.5 miles in 38:51 included 6 pickups between 1:00 and 3:40 Checking off a couple of the longer ones on the map, it looks like I was dipping below 6 minute pace.

Other recent runs:
Friday, 5.6 miles including 2x1600, 1x1800. These were supposed to accelerate with each 400 meters in the range of 1:40-1:25/lap, but I had trouble with the timing. 6:04 average pace.

Monday, 5.5 miles. Thanks to the glorious revelation that, instead of running *before* Christine and Si wake up, Christine can wake up 15 minutes earlier and I can run *afterwards* and still get to work on time. I must say, though, I missed those first rays of dawn.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

5 runs

Friday, 9.8 miles in 1:11
Saturday, 6 miles to Solano Ave in 43:42
Sunday, the same 6 miles with Silas in 46:43
Tuesday, 6.2 miles tempo in 46:01
Wednesday, 7 miles in 55:58

All of these runs were in the rain except for the tempo. 3.5 tempo miles in 7:15-6:53-6:25-3:10. Fatigue and darkness must have been slowing me down compared to last week.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Three Quarters

Headed to the Piedmont High track this morning; there was a relatively small crowd of 10-15 folks. On the table was 4x1200, starting each set with an easy lap and shifting up a gear each 400 meters; 200m recoveries between each set.

Mine went down in 4:28-4:38-4:28-4:31. I actually had the most trouble finding first gear; in the two fast sets I started with 1:33 laps and was only able to knock off a second for the second lap. The workout felt good, though, and I feel like I've really been building some speed this fall.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Tempo

6 miles in 46:something

Ran along my usual tempo route (taking Benvenue instead of College to avoid daytime pedestrian traffic). 3.5 tempo miles went down in 6:43-6:44-5:43-2:49. A few steps faster than last week's run (unblogged), and I tacked on that last half mile because I didn't feel like I was breathing hard enough. The usual disclaimer applies: some miles are uphill, some are downhill.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Weekend runs

Saturday night, 3.4 miles in :26
Sunday afternoon, 10.6 miles in 1:26 with Silas

Saturday's run was more about discipline than miles - This was my first 5-day running week in a while as a result. I took the long way to Walgreens and ran home with a half gallon of ammonia.

I was hoping for a long run on Sunday, but also had to do my best to help Silas nap. We ended up taking the *really* long way to the Berkeley Bowl to get some cheese and ice cream. He didn't actually sleep, and I didn't actually burn any glycogen, but a good time was had by all. We ran a couple of miles up Broadway in Oakland, a road that is almost entirely occupied by vacant auto dealerships (also Oakland Tech High School, Ricky Henderson's alma mater).

Thursday, December 3, 2009

6.6 miles in :56 this morning

Jet-lagged Si woke me up at 4:40 this morning saying "Let's go for a run. It will be fun!" We went through the Northbrae tunnel and picked up bagels on the way home. Took a nap at work.